Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 214
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜
978-1-5381-0653-2 • Hardback • August 2017 • $116.00 • (£89.00)
978-1-5381-0654-9 • eBook • August 2017 • $110.00 • (£85.00)
Charles B. Lowry, Ph.D., has had a 50-year career in US higher education. He retired as the Executive Director of the Association of Research Libraries (2008–2014). Prior to that he was the Dean of Libraries at the University of Maryland College Park (1996–2008). Lowry has directed five academic and research libraries, including service as University Librarian at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh where he led significant information technology initiatives (1992–1996). His service includes director of libraries at University of Texas Arlington, University of South Alabama and Elon College (now University).
Chapter 1: Introduction and Overview—ClimateQUAL®, Building a Potent Instrument for Organizational Health and Diversity, Charles B. Lowry, M. Sue Baughman, and Paul J. Hanges
Chapter 2: The Healthy Organization—Properties of ClimateQUAL Scales, Paul J. Hanges and Juliet R. Aiken
Chapter 3: Leadership Matters—The ClimateQUAL® Case, Paul J. Hanges, Charles B. Lowry, and Juliet R. Aiken
Chapter 4: Organizational Climate and Customer Service—The ClimateQUAL® and LibQUAL+® Connection, Martha Kyrillidou and Gary Roebuck
Chapter 5: Improvement Strategies and Organizational Change Using ClimateQUAL®, Sue Baughman
Chapter 6: Longitudinal Change Leads to Healthy Environments, Sue Baughman and Mark A. Puente
Chapter 7: Differences and Equity: A Reflective Analysis of ClimateQUAL® Demographics and Organizational Climate, Shaneka Morris, Martha Kyrillidou, and Mark Puente
Chapter 8: ClimateQual® in the UK: Applying the Protocol in a Different Culture, Stephen Town
Lowry provides an excellent overview of the history and development of ClimateQUAL as an instrument to understand organizational culture and climate. Of particular note is the analysis of ClimateQUAL results linked to leadership effectiveness and how leadership may be evaluated as a contributor to a healthy organization. Lowry’s ClimateQUAL examines the relationship between the two protocols of LibQUAL and ClimateQUAL demonstrating that a healthy organization contributes to a good service climate that is affirmed by library users. This research is helpful for organizations considering ClimateQUAL and a must read for organizations who are analyzing the results as it guides readers into the various applications of survey data.
— Maggie Farrell, Dean of Libraries, Clemson University
It’s about a lot more than libraries! This edited volume is a superb application of the thinking and measurement of organizational climate, in this case to libraries as organizational systems. The book provides insights into how leadership and diversity (among other issues) in libraries get played out in both a library’s internal world and in the way it relates to its customers. ClimateQUAL is essential reading for any organization willing to learn how to do the hard work necessary to improve—and it is especially essential reading for libraries who know they can be better.
— Benjamin Schneider, professor emeritus, University of Maryland
ClimateQUAL is a unique and important tool for libraries to learn about their employee’s views of the work environment in terms of leadership, fairness and the supports for diversity and inclusion. This book tells the story of ClimateQUAL’s development and its infrastructural support for the community of library leaders. The expanded longitudinal analysis and comparative assessments of the vast accumulated data will enhance scholarship and the capacity for leaders to use their institution’s ClimateQUAL results. The insights into how different demographic groups are experiencing library workplaces and the discussion of leadership’s deep organizational impact on employee work experiences are important to those interested in promoting equity in library workplaces. All of this makes this book a unique and important addition to this area of scholarship and the library leader’s toolkit.
— Brian Keith, associate dean for Administrative Services and Faculty Affairs, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida
Teaching organizational climate is always a challenge, because students can appreciate the concept, but have difficulty recognizing the implications and applications of it, and are unsure how to measure it. ClimateQUAL helps to answer those questions, and gives such clear examples of why this construct matters. It's clear, concise, and a pleasure to read. A great new tool for the organizational climate tool chest!
— Marcus W. Dickson, professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit
The book has the potential to become a definitive text on the topic of implementing ClimateQUAL since it fills a niche in the literature on the topic and provides a good overview of various aspects and applications of the tool.
— Technical Services Quarterly